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Joe Biden
Joseph "Joe" Biden (born November 20, 1942) is the current United States Vice President and the first in over a decade who never shot anyone. On August 23, 2008 he was nominated for Vice President by Barack Obama. He holds the George Arents Pioneer Medal for "for excellence in public affairs" from Syracuse University where he got his degree. Early Life He experienced several business reverses due to economic decline in Scranton where he lived. He earned better money as a used car sales man. Joe Biden's family are middle class and from Delaware http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug27/0,4670,CVNBidenapossScrantonRoots,00.html. In High School , he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in at a Wilmington theater. Academically, Biden was undistinguished, but he was a natural leader among the students. He graduated in 1961. By 1965 he had a double major in both History and Political Science. (506th of 688). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/22/politics/p222636D16.DTL He received a Juris Doctor at Syracuse University. He said being there was the biggest bore of his life. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/22/politics/p222636D16.DTL On August 27, 1966, Biden, then a law student, married Neilia Hunter, who was from an affluent background in Skaneateles, New York and had attended Syracuse University. They had met in 1964 while on spring break in the Bahamas, and he had overcome her parents' initial reluctance for her to be dating a Roman Catholic. They had three children, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III (born 1969), Robert Hunter (born 1970), and Naomi Christina (born 1971).http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/22/politics/p222636D16.DTL Early political career His first win as a politician was his election to a County Council in a solidly Republican area. He then went on to become a Senator in 1972 by beating an old incumbent Republican. Early in his political career Biden was already proving to be a thorn in the Delaware Republican's side. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/joe-biden/ Joe Biden showed he can succeed against the odds. His success may be due to his power of being honest, which no Republican can acquire or be in anyway shape or form. Family tragedy Shortly after the election Joe Biden’s wife and youngest child were killed in a motor accident in Hockessin, Delaware. Neilia Biden's station wagon was hit by a much heavier lorry. It appears the truck driver was not at fault. The two boys suffered critical injuries but the boys, Beau and Hunter, recovered fully. Biden thought of resigning so he could care for them. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield persuaded him to stay in office and Biden took the oath of office office from one of their bedsides.http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug27/0,4670,CVNBidenapossScrantonRoots,00.html Joe Biden started commuting for over an hour every day from his home in the Washington suburbs so he could live at home with his sons. Directly after the accident, he struggled to focus on work. Biden states in his memoirs, that members of staff even took bets on how long they expected him to last. For the next five years, Biden left instructions that he should be interrupted if his sons called at any time even if he was in the Senate. Biden still does not work on December 18, which is the day the accident happened. In 1977 Joe Biden remarried with Jill Tracy Jacobs. They had another daughter.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/22/politics/p222636D16.DTL As a Senator On January 3, 1973 the 30 year old Biden took office as a US Senator and was the 6th youngest in that office in U.S. history. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879402-6,00.html Biden has been re-elected six times mostly with decisive majorities. Biden has now served longer than any other Senator in the history of Delaware. Joe Biden has chaired the Senate committees dealing for Foreign Relations and also with Crime. Biden has also served on Committees dealing with the judiciary, with competition and consumer protection, with Human rights, technology, homeland security and others. Joe Biden’s assets amount to between $59,000 and $366,000, and he has hardly any income from outside investments. Therefore he ranks as a less wealthy Senator. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/politics/13biden.html?_r=1 Biden was elected early in life and devoted his life to public service rather than chasing high incomes. Running for President, 1988 Biden attempted to run for President in 1988 as a Democrat. The vast Conservative media attack his records in College as they could find nothing to attack him for as a senator. He stopped running because he was constantly attacked for his past mistakes and no one focused on the good he had done.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DF173AF937A1575AC0A961948260 2008 Presidential Run & Vice Presidency Biden announced that he would run for President in 2008. He had planned on retiring from the senate anyway. Biden was noted for his one-liners on the campaign trail, saying of Republican then-frontrunner Rudy Giuliani at the October 30, 2007, debate in Philadelphia, "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11.http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/Story?id=3498294&page=1 Overall, Biden had difficulty raising funds, struggled to draw people to his rallies, and failed to gain traction against the high-profile candidacies of Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; he never rose above single digits in the national polls of the Democratic candidates. In the initial contest on January 3, 2008, Biden placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses, garnering slightly less than one percent of the state delegates. Biden withdrew from the race that evening, saying "There is nothing sad about tonight.... I feel no regret." Biden was approached by Barack Obama, who wanted to have him play an important role in his administration. He considered giving him many positions but in the end choose him as a Vice Presidential candidate. Joe Biden campaigned for Obama in areas such as Ohio and Florida where Obama had done poorly in the primaries and helped garner support for the incoming President. On November 4, 2008, Obama was elected President and Biden Vice President of the United States. The Obama-Biden ticket won 365 electoral college votes to McCain-Palin's 173,and had a 53–46 percent edge in the nationwide popular vote.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/americas/2008/vote_usa_2008/default.stm During the campaign Biden had a 60 percent approval rating of the American people compared to Palin's 44. He is also way more of a common guy then Sarah Palin will ever be because *He makes far less money then she does *Palin is a complete idiot and most Americans are not (see election of Barack Obama) *Joe Biden has married twice and felt the pain of losing a child and a wife, something that many Americans go through. The pain that Palin has gone is the pain in her eye from trying to squint and see Russia. *He supports marriage equality Category:Liberals Category:American People Category:US Senators Category:US Politics Category:US Presidential candidates Category:Democratic Party Category:American Christians